


Trailblazers

by lagatos



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:52:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2793797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lagatos/pseuds/lagatos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra gets lost in the woods and Asami gives her some direction after (minor) teasing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trailblazers

**Author's Note:**

> this is for kkoraki, korrasami secret santa! 
> 
> I just really like the idea that korrasami works so well because Asami feels safe with Korra and that Korra feels supported...Asami can always give her a push in the right direction~ if we're continuing with this metaphor

Part I: trust falls

 

Snow crunched under Korra’s feet as she paused by the trail marker, knocking slush from the treads of her boots. She definitely wasn’t lost—she’d been following _someone’s_ foot prints along the trail for the past four hours. It was going to lead somewhere. She was sure of it.

            Korra sighed, watching her breath puff up into the snow-laden branches above her before hitching her backpack up, water bottles and cooking supplies clinking together. The footprints seemed about her size—she’d gotten bored after a few hours and had tried to match her feet to the person’s long strides, almost slipping in the process. They were taller, probably some mountain man out hunting before—

            She paused, foot poised, and looked around. Ahead of her, the trail spilled out across the ridge, winding along, but the tracks just _stopped_. Huh. Korra back-tracked a few steps, placing her feet in the last footprints, her body facing toward the stream rushing past below the ridge.

            “Hello?”

            The forest was quiet, the type of muffled silence that only came with a fresh blanket of snow. A hog squirrel scurried up a branch, sending a rain of snow to the ground before the forest went still again.

            “Is anyone there?”

            Korra closed her eyes, inhaling deeply like Jinora taught her, feeling the forest around her. The stream below her flowed freely, a few branches fluttered in the breeze. Korra stood up taller, concentrating harder. A twig snapped, soft footsteps coming closer—

            “Korra?”

            She whirled around, slipping on the snow underfoot, the weight of her backpack pulling her down with a heavy _oof_. Snow buried itself under her shirt as she lay there, staring up at the trees above her.

            A concerned face popped into her field of vision, a stray lock of hair dangling into Korra’s face. Hands were grabbing hers, hauling her up, brushing snow from her clothes.

            “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah.” Korra’s cheeks flushed as she shook snow from her pants. “Thanks.”

            “No problem.” Asami smiled, watching Korra struggle to empty the snow from inside her hood. “What are you doing this far out here?”

            “Well, I _was_ camping out. The trail was supposed to take me over the ridge and back into—what are _you_ doing out here?

            Asami grinned, hitching her own backpack higher up on her shoulders. “Were you lost?”

            “I—no.” Korra brushed past Asami, marching towards the trail.

            “I think the Avatar was lost.”

            “I was not!”

            Asami laughed, jogging to catch up with Korra on the trail.

 

Part II: should we stop and ask for directions?

 

            “Do you know where you’re going?”

            Korra stood in the middle of the clearing, turning around slowly.

            “That’s Republic City,” she said, pointing towards the miniature buildings nestled between the mountains overlooking the bay. “So…we’d have to be…”

            Asami put her knapsack down, her back to Korra as she continued to mutter about directions. A small wooden sign stood pushed back from the trail and she brushed the snow off, reading the worn letters underneath.

            “Let’s go this way.”

            Korra looked up, startled from her ranting about the sun’s angle. She caught Asami’s eye, her cheeks dusted a cute pink.

            “Are you sure?” she asked. She looked a little pitiable, with snow melting her hair in strands across her forehead and her knit hat drooping off to one side. Asami almost felt bad about teasing her—almost.

            “I grew up with my dad taking me on hikes through here.” She gave Korra a wink before setting off down the trail. “Trust me.”

 

 

Part III: it doesn’t end in frostbite

 

            “So did you talk to your dad again?”

            Asami glanced over at Korra for a moment before looking back down at the trail. Her breath came out in a puff of white and she drew her coat in tighter against her body.

            “Yeah.”

            They walked along in silence for a while, their boots crunching in the snow underfoot. Korra chewed her lip, wondering if she should press further. Asami seemed to be the only one who knew where they were going—getting her worked up enough to walk off in a huff would probably end in frostbite and disaster. Korra hadn’t really figured out how to bring up the subject again since their three year reunion.

            “I just don’t know what to think still. So I went for a walk.”

            “Just a short walk through subfreezing temperatures and mountain slopes.”

            Asami was quiet and Korra laughed, bumping her shoulder so they both tripped off the trail.

            “Hey. I understand about getting away.”

 

 

Part IV: trust falls, take two

 

            “We’re camping here?”

            Asami dropped her bag on the ground, clearing off a patch of snow with her boots. “It’s as good as anywhere. And the sun’s going down.”

            Korra stood back for a moment, watching Asami clear a small circle away for a fire pit. Small strands of hair fell away from her ponytail and hung in her face, blocking her expression.

            “Okay—does this look good? How about you collect firewood—”

            “Wait, let’s make it a little bigger.”

            Korra bent the snow out of the way, clearing off a patch big enough for a large fire and a place to sit. She crossed her arms, admiring her work before something large and heavy hit her square in the face, tipping her off balance.

            “You let me clear all that snow without saying anything?”

            Korra blinked up at Asami, cold seeping into the fabric of her pants. She stood over her, hands on her hips, hair hanging wildly out of her ponytail.

            Korra pressed her lips together, trying to stop the smirk fighting its way on her face. Asami narrowed her eyes, glowering down at her, and Korra lost it, bursting into laughter while Asami stood over her confusedly.

            “I’m sorry,” she gasped, fighting to get the words out over her laughter. “Your face—you look so—”

             She rolled over, holding her knees to her chest to try to hold in her laughter. “I’ve never seen you look so—you look so _not_ put together—”

            Korra shrieked as a fresh wave of snow hit her in the face, shooting up to her feet. “Why would you—what was that for?” she spluttered, snow falling from her face. Asami stood across from her, a smirk on her face, snowball in hand.

            “Since you seem like you wanted some help moving the snow—hey!”

            Korra grinned as she brought her cold fingers under Asami’s neck, cackling as the shock wiped the smirk off Asami’s face.

            “Get off!”

            “Not after what you did!”

            Asami elbowed her in the stomach and she doubled over, faking a cough before bending a layer of snow in Asami’s face. She careened backwards, catching Korra by surprise as they both fell in a heap on the ground.

            “I can’t believe you.”

            Korra rolled over, melting snow off her coat and flicking the water in Asami’s face. “You started it.”

            Asami sighed, letting her head fall back into the snow in defeat. Korra lay there for a moment, watching Asami’s chest rise up and down. The sun had really start to set now, casting shadows across the snow in dark patterns. Wind blew across their tiny clearing and Korra buried the tip of her nose in her coat, feeling Asami shiver underneath her. Korra looked up, catching Asami watching her lips.

            She sat up, rubbing warmth back into her hands.

            “We should start the fire.”

 

 

 

Part V: asami’s waited (eighty) four years

 

            “Korra?”

            She rolled over in her sleeping bag, facing Asami’s voice in the pitch black of their tent.

            “Why did you come out here?”

            Korra closed her eyes, feeling her chest rise and fall as the silence stretched on. She thought about the three years she’d spent away from the city, the months she’d taken to make sense of everything alone. It hadn’t really worked by herself—she didn’t know why she’d come out here alone after finally taking care of Kuvira. She didn’t know what she was looking for anymore. Korra opened her mouth, willing the words to come to her, but nothing came. Instead, warm hands skirted over her wrist, fingers tangling loosely in her own.

            “I don’t know why I’m out here either.”

            Korra gave Asami’s fingers a tentative squeeze, cautious with this new touch.

            “Sorry.” The wind whistled outside their tent, the canvas fluttering in the night. Korra kept quiet, her tongue heavy in her mouth. “I don’t know if you…”

            Asami’s hand was pulling away and Korra squeezed tighter, her stomach flipping over in her throat.

            “I’m sorry I didn’t come back for so long,” Korra breathed, letting the words hang between them. “I didn’t know how to do this when I didn’t feel—right.”

            “It’s okay.”

            Asami shifted closer, her fingers skating over the goosebumps on Korra’s skin. “I’m glad I can do this after the city is safe again. Thanks to you.”

            Korra sat up in her sleeping bag, her eyes trying to find Asami’s in the pitch black of the night. Her hand still held on to hers, anchoring Korra in the dark.

            “You say that like you knew we were going to fix everything.”

            “I did know that.” Asami’s voice sounded so sure and steady in the dark. “I believe in you.”

            Korra let her hand fall against the sleeping bag, staring blankly out in the tent.

            “Korra?”

            She leaned down suddenly, pressing her lips sloppily against Asami’s. In the dark of the tent she missed, somehow getting the side of her nose instead. Asami’s laughed, locking her hands loosely around Korra’s neck and pulling her down again, kissing her properly on the lips.


End file.
